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Finding Success In Own Backyard

It used to be that the word "entrepreneur" was virtually synonymous with "man." But lately, more and more women are starting their own businesses. In fact, women now run just under half of the small businesses in the U.S. The Early Show correspondent Tracy Smith has one woman's inspiring story.

Martha Burns was a housewife and mother living in Minneapolis when tragedy struck. She managed to save her family from drowning in debt by starting a business in the backyard pool.

Burns, 60, runs a swim school for kids. But her business and life are really a lesson in keeping your head above water -- no matter what.

Growing up in Mexico, Burns loved to swim. But her well-to-do parents expected women to become scholars, not athletes.

"Every time I got a 'C,'" Burns recalls, "My mother would say, 'Your brain is full of water.'"

Burns' talent went unused.

"I qualified to be on the Mexican Olympic team," she says, "but that was not even a consideration for me to go."

Mom and Dad said, "No way," Burns recalls.

At age 22, she married a wealthy American named Bob Burns. Bob understood his wife's first love was the water, so when they moved to Minneapolis, he built her a pool.

Martha Burns notes, "He did that, which I'm really grateful for now." Her husband had no idea how that pool was going to pay off.

They raised two children: little Martha and David; Martha taught the kids to swim as soon as they could walk -- neighbors marveled at their skills.